The Lesson of 2018? Embracing Trump is Key to Electoral Victory

Some people refuse to learn this lesson — here is Tim Huelskamp, president of the Heartland Institute:

It is well-documented that both political parties in Congress have figured out how to use the levers of power — to stay in power. Congressional leaders, especially those in the majority, use their positions to raise millions of dollars in campaign contributions. Given that money usually equates to campaign success for the majority, one must work pretty hard to lose control of the House of Representatives. But it can be done, as Democrats demonstrated in 1994, Republicans in 2006, Democrats in 2010, and Republicans again in 2018.

As a political scientist and former congressman, I understand that it’s difficult to know exactly why voters reject any candidate. However, flipping the House is pretty simple to explain. In fact, both Speakers Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) offered the same answer: hyper-localize your race — that is, ignore national issues and focus like a laser on local issues. Unfortunately for Republicans, the advice only works Democrats.

Back to the House. The speaker and his affiliated PACs spent months running away from national issues. As a result, the one big achievement of the Ryan speakership — historic tax reform — was ignored by most voters, and the ancillary strong economy didn’t translate into strong support for House Republicans. Instead, the man who most successfully seized credit for a booming economy was the same man that establishment Republicans and consultants counseled candidates to avoid: President Donald Trump. (Note: this was the very same strategy implemented by House Republicans back in 2016, and despite their very best efforts to shun Trump, voters rewarded them anyway with his massive coattails. Trust me: I was in on these very discussions.)

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“If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the General Welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one, possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one, subject to particular exceptions.” —James Madison (1792)